Tales of Fire
by Gigawolf1
Summary: The Fire Nation Royal Family get to speak. Review enough to get a sequel based on the Avatars.
1. Ozai

Tales of Fire

Ozai

She's gone.

Azula told me everything, about how Zuko had stayed behind, then fled when Father began to issue his punishment. That boy thought Father would punish me with the loss of my son, when Iroh just lost Lu Ten? Father was no fool; Iroh cared about Zuko almost as much as he did Lu Ten.

I almost wish I had never tried to convince Father to make me the Fire Lord. A moment of weakness cost me more than Father dared to punish. And now Zuko will pay for it. His birth almost took her from me, and now his cowardice had finished the job. Only the pond, where we had first met, could remind me of her. He came to me, wondering what happened. How I wish I could…

How I wish I could destroy him…


	2. Lu Ten

Tales of Fire

Lu Ten

He doesn't understand.

Father refuses to believe that I befriended this small Earth Kingdom family. I came back after another day of the killing, and I was so disgusted with myself, I went to bathe in a river. Odd for the son of the future Fire Lord, but I feel it's a sort of destiny. After all, while I was there, I saved a baby from drowning. The parents thanked me, until we found we were enemies.

I could not bring myself to kill an unarmed foe; that is something Father taught me. They gave me food to thank me, and told me they were entering Ba Sing Se, seeking an audience with one of the Earthbending Spirits, a great white wyrm. I told them of the siege, now five-hundred and ninety-eight days in. They told me they had to get their small, defenceless little girl to the spirit, for she, a child of two, could not see.

I promised them passage, but Father would not allow it. I pleaded, but he refused. I know he won't allow his soldiers to kill them, though. I have an ace in the hole.

When the Bai Phong Family would attempt to enter Ba Sing Se, they would be holding the son of Iroh hostage.


	3. Iroh

Tales of Fire

Iroh

He didn't understand.

He directly disobeyed me, and look where it got him. I followed him, and look where he is. The faceless are forgotten; the faceless no longer live. The Earthbenders worship a monster, one banished by the Avatar.

I wonder what Lu Ten was thinking, when he sacrificed himself to one so that the other might help that little girl. I wonder, if he was thinking of his cousin Zuko. I wonder, did he feel pain when it happened? I wonder, did he think of the past or future when he made his choice?

I wonder, when we meet again, will I speak to Lu Ten, or to Koh?


	4. Azulon

Tales of Fire

Azulon

I can't believe it.

My son dares to come before me, hoping to take the throne from his brother, whose only son has died. I shall release upon him the strongest punishment of the Fire Lord. The most painful punishment for any who dares to disrespect the Fire Lord shall be given to Ozai, that impudent little brat!

Ah, but here comes Princess Ursa. She tends to me in my age, helping to keep Ozai in my favour. Even this, though, will not keep Ozai from being punished. He must learn his lesson, and be punished for his treachery. I have not ruled for twenty-three years, since the death of my Father, to allow a traitor to take the throne.

Henceforth, Ozai shall be… Ursa… Betrayer… Fire Lord…


	5. Sozin

Tales of Fire

Sozin

I killed him.

My Father, dead by my own hand. He ignored me for his little friend. He forsook his only child for that little Airbender! I mastered Firebending at the age of twelve, and instead he cared about a bald monk. He and his friends always hung out with that stupid Avatar. I have only ever lost control of my Firebending once, and it killed him.

Never again. Soon, the comet I am named for will return once more, and I will use its power to destroy the Airbenders that made me lose control. It is perfect; I am so young, I have advisors. They will be blamed for the war, and when I come to full power, the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes will expect me to stop the war, rather than intensify it.

I am the first child Fire Lord in many years, and my Father and Grandfather will be remembered as great, but forgotten in the presence of the Fire Lord Sozin!


	6. Roku

Tales of Fire

Roku

My curse is soon to end.

I see the Avatars who came before me, and the next Avatar, an Air Nomad named Aang. Upon my deathbed, I hope to tell Kuzon to befriend the Avatar, but I know he will soon be distracted, with his wife being pregnant. He will name the child after the legendary Sozin's Comet, under which I was born.

And so, upon my deathbed, in the home I was raised in, rather than where my throne of birth resides, I prepare to die, beside the future Fire Lord Kuzon. I can already see the life of Aang, and how the Fire Nation will destroy the Airbender Temples, though being unable to destroy all the Air Nomads.

No longer will I be burdened with the curse of being the only Avatar born into royalty, though my status will alter the course of the world…


	7. Kuzon

Tales of Fire

Kuzon

My Father is not dead.

For some, it may be wishful thinking, but for me, it's the truth. I saw him the other day, wandering in the Fire Nation Capital while I was evading my advisors. I'm really not the public kind, and so the people don't always recognize me. Either way, I take special care leaving my crown behind. I know it was my father from the way he looked at me.

He was an Airbender, next in the Avatar Cycle. If my father, Avatar Roku, was truly reincarnated, I could spend more time with him. My young Sozin would love to meet his grandfather's reincarnation, since that boy loved his family history so much. I slipped out again, to meet him again, and to my surprise, he was still exploring the city. I suddenly realized he was twelve, and so was far too young to know he was the Avatar. Regardless, I went to him, to see for sure if he was my Father born again.

"Hey, I'm Kuzon. Who are you?"

"I'm Aang. Hey, could you show me around this place?"

Aang. That was the name my father said he would take when born again. I almost laughed, because I was the son of a child no older than my own.

"Aang, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."


	8. The Facts behind the Tales

Tales of Fire

The Facts behind the Tales

First, I would like to thank everyone who read and reviewed this story. Secondly, I would like to tell you how I came up with the concept of this odd new look on the Fire Nation Royal Family. If you don't mind, I will waste your time with the facts.

First are the facts about Ozai. Let's say Azula lies, as she often has. If we take into consideration the interesting fact that she lies once per episode, it can be safely assumed that Ozai's punishment was not to kill his only son. After all, this would do serious damage to the family line, even though Iroh had lost his son. But Iroh cared for Zuko as well, and, more importantly, while Lu Ten was loved deeply by his father, the same cannot be said for Zuko. A more fitting punishment would be the execution of his daughter or, more interesting, banishment. Now, this would explain why Azula would lie to Zuko, and then likely to her own mother.

On to Lu Ten. This chapter came about as two of my ideas; one, that Lu Ten made it into Ba Sing Se, which is where he was captured by Koh; two, that Toph has one of the two Earthbending Spirits within her. This is not so hard to imagine, and this concept shall return in the sequel to 'Come What May'. That the other is Koh will be explained soon enough. We can assume Lu Ten shared his father's free spirit, considering how devastated he was. That the two parties met would explain both the spirit in Toph and the death of Lu Ten.

Within the chapter of Iroh, the Fire Nation General is mourning his son. The part about the Earthbenders worshiping a monster is reflected by the fact that Koh stole the face of someone the Avatar loved. However, the many human faces could not have been taken in the Spirit World, as very few people have ever gone there. Now, by remembering that Koh is black with a white mask (Ocean Spirit, black with white spot), it could be presumed that the spirit 'old enough to remember the Ocean and Moon' was in fact a spirit of Earthbending, representing their Diversity and many faces. Of course, another factor is that the Avatar was unable to kill Koh. Not only did he fail, but Zhao stated that the 'Ocean and Moon gave up their immortality a long time ago.' These two point to a possibility that Koh was once in the mortal realm, having given up its immortality as well.

Azulon's chapter is more of a journal of the night he was killed. Again, I have used my usual suspect. The death of either of Ozai's children would be a very stupid act, considering they are the only grandchildren he has left. Men, unlike women, are capable of reproducing even in old age (or maybe that's different in the Fire Nation), and so Iroh could have produced an heir, unless Fire Nation marriages continue after death. None of the Fire Lords have had living or present wives (we haven't seen Sozin or earlier, however), and so we cannot be sure. However, the fact Ursa may have been 'caring for him' in his old age would put her close enough to kill him. One last part of this is that the punishment would be interesting; I feel it would be ironic if it turned out that Ozai's punishment was to be banished, and therefore unable to claim the throne of the Fire Lord. This would also spur Azula into action, and explain the Fire Lord statement in the chapter (this proves the fic, and thus my reasoning). This would also teach Ozai that banishment was a ferocious punishment, one not to be taken lightly, and so explaining the fact that the scar was added to by the banishment.

Sozin is a SOB, as far as I care. I find it very interesting that the Fire Lord, whose son ruled for 23 years out of 100, then died about 8 years before the end, was old and frail. At most, he could be about 80, but then one must remember his children, and theirs. A simple fact is that there are two kinds of heirs. The Heir Apparent, the oldest eligible kid, gets the throne. The Heir Apparent, anybody born before an Heir Apparent, but not fitting all the circumstances, gets the throne unless over-ruled by an Her Apparent. In other words, Azulon was the oldest male child of Sozin (I think those creepy old ladies were his sisters or something). So, about 31/100 years were ruled by someone OTHER than Sozin. That's why I made him no older than Aang. Also, note that the comet comes around once every hundred years. I see no reason why it should start just for a war, and then one has to ask, 'Why do they have the same name?' In real life, advisors are often seen as scheming, and do in fact rule the country in the presence of a child. However, due to the incredible Firebending of the Royal Family, I suppose he mastered Firebending at that age.

Next, we come to Avatar Roku. Interestingly enough, he slightly resembles Iroh (white hair and topknot being the obvious relations), but more importantly, he wears something in his hair. His mannerisms even resemble Iroh's; though he is dead, he is kind to his friends and deadly to his foes. The fact he resembles Iroh may be coincidental, but he also shares similarities with Ozai. Most importantly, the thing in Ozai's hair is similar to the one in Roku's hair, though Roku's admittedly isn't flame-shaped, but then, the Avatar is more important than the Fire Lord. It is, of course, also likely that the fact the only difference between his name and Zuko's are the order of letters (vowels switched, uko to oku) and first letter. In Japanese (random, I know), Zu means picture or drawing, and ko means small (or apparently large and great…). Ro means oar (ironically, rowing needs an oar), and ku means ward (also nine and some stuff about writing) (oku also means hundred million, perhaps meaning he's that avatar). Either way, I say he was the Fire Lord and the Avatar. Feel free to dispute me on this point.

Finally, we come to Kuzon. By no stretch of the imagination can one deny this possibility. We know only his name, and his nation. If Kuzon were Fire Lord, it would help to explain the odd coincidence that Aang just happened to befriend the future king of the first Earthbending city. If the royalty of each nation was drawn to the Avatar, it would only help to further the Avatar's power to maintain balance. If Zuko were to take the Fire Nation Throne, the fact that Aang is best friends with the temporary leaders of the Southern Water Tribe (and considered a hero by the Northern Water Tribe), along with the fact he is the last Airbender, and his friendship with Bumi, this means no nation can attack another without fighting the friend of their friend, and therefore, without turning against their powerful… Friend.

I would like to thank anyone who read all of this, and I have one message to pass on to you, dear reader:

The Fire Nation Royalty all have Daddy Issues


End file.
